Sustainable construction loses momentum

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a British association of property experts, recently published its 2025 sustainability report, and the outlook for "green" buildings is looking increasingly bleak: According to the report, demand for sustainable real estate is cooling in most regions, many projects are stalling due to high upfront costs and uncertain returns, and nearly half of construction professionals still do not measure the CO₂ emissions of their projects, among other findings.

According to energy efficiency experts at Exergio, a company that develops AI tools for energy efficiency in real estate, this is due to three unresolved systemic problems: stagnating demand, unclear financial value and weak operational implementation.

According to the report, global demand for sustainable buildings has been declining for several years. The latest edition shows a further decline from 41 to 30 per cent. Investors and developers blame this primarily on unclear returns: 35 to 46 per cent cite uncertain returns on investment, payback periods or operational savings as the main obstacle to investment.

The RICS data also shows a growing gap between the values of users and the priorities of investors: users value performance – 94 per cent cite indoor climate quality and 88 per cent cite energy efficiency as top priorities – while investors continue to focus on certifications (86 per cent) and resilience features (78 per cent).